The Case for Mueller: Trump, Foot Soldiers, and Proud Boys, Oath Keepers in the midst of a Democratic Insurrection
Smith is chasing Trump, along with six other people, for schemes that reached the highest level of American government. This is the case that, if successful, can once and for all strip Trump of any pretense of good faith or good will. But make no mistake, the outcome of this case is uncertain for exactly the reason it’s so important: So very much of the case depends on Trump’s state of mind.
At the risk of oversimplifying an indictment that contains four distinct counts — conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights — it can be broken down into two indispensable components. First, it will be necessary to prove what Trump knew. Second, it will be necessary to prove what he did. The first count of the indictment is a conspiracy to defraud the United States. The statute is designed to criminalize any interference or obstruction of a “lawful governmental function” by “deceit, craft or trickery.”
The legal system had a defensive crouch in the weeks after the 2020 election, repelling claims that were designed to reverse the election results. In the months and years since the violent insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, the legal system has switched from defense to offense. With all deliberate speed, prosecutors first brought charges against Trump’s foot soldiers, the men and women who breached the Capitol. The leaders of the Trumpist groups, the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, were pursued for their involvement in a conspiracy to keep Trump in the White House.
Yet Trump refused to acknowledge what even his own top advisers were telling him at the time: There was no evidence that fraud changed the election’s outcome.
In the weeks following the election, Trump’s campaign pursued dozens of lawsuits in states where Trump lost. Courts repeatedly rejected the Trump team’s election fraud claims.
He was able to raise money off his false claims of fraud. The House Jan 6 Committee says that Trump raised more than $250 million in a single day.
Trump, leaning on legal theories proposed by outside attorney John Eastman, wanted Pence to refuse to count certain Electoral College votes — a theory that Pence rejected as unconstitutional.
He is trying to retain his license. In June, the State Bar of California filed a case against him for making false allegations of voter fraud during the 2020 election.
Even though Biden won some states, Trump advisers were trying to create a fake-elector scheme by pushing Republican officials to vote for alternates even though Biden had won them.
But as Congress was meeting on Capitol Hill, Trump was hosting a rally down by the White House. In a long, rambling speech, he repeated his claims of election fraud and told the crowd to “fight like hell” and march to Congress.
Thousands of Trump supporters did just that. They marched from the Ellipse to the Capitol, where they fought through police lines, stormed the Capitol and sent lawmakers fleeing for safety.
The Justice Department immediately launched a nationwide investigation — one of the largest in the department’s history — to track down those who broke into the Capitol and to hold them accountable. So far, more than 1,000 people have been arrested in connection with the attack.
The charges were filed two weeks after the former president said he would be indicted by a federal grand jury. Protesters from Donald Trump’s camp went to the Capitol to prevent Mike Pence from certifying the winner of the presidential election in favor of Joe Biden.
In addition to these federal charges, Trump is facing criminal charges over the accounting of hush money payments in Manhattan; a defamation lawsuit filed by writer E. Jean Carroll; and a grand jury investigation in Georgia over his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in that state.
Former President Donald Trump was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury on four counts related to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, according to court documents.
The Washington, D.C., District Circuit Court of Appeals for the Decree of the Jan. 6 Demonstration by Barack Obama
The judge nominated to the bench by Barack Obama, Chutkan, who was an assistant public defender, has always taken the hardest line against Jan. 6 defendants in Washington’s federal trial court, which has handled 800 cases so far.
According to The AP, Chutkan stood out for her punishment. The AP found that Chutkan imposed harsher punishments than federal prosecutors wanted for the rioters.
In this case, Trump is also facing a serious Washington, D.C., federal judge with years of experience, Tobias said. The case is being handled by Judge Chutkan.
Trump and his associates are accused of trying to interfere with the election proceedings in the U.S. and of pressuring officials to overturn the results in several states.
There are at least six unnamed co-conspirators who are listed in the New York and Florida case, as well as more people, which makes this case a lot more widespread.
Tobias noted that prosecutors used this charge especially during the Civil Rights era to prosecute those who intimidated and terrorized Black voters at that time as well.
This law was part of the Enforcement Act, passed between 1868 and 1870, and “served as the basis for federal activism in prosecuting corruption of the franchise until most of them were repealed in the 1890s,” according to the Justice Department.